Committee on Budget
Budgetary power, the regulation on spendings and resources, has been one of the first modern comforts of the European Parliament. With the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty this power has been significantly broadened. Since last year Parliament decides on an equal footing with the European Council on the EU's annual Budget. This is about citizen's money, about transparency of public spending and preventing outgrowth and abuse. In addition it means to allocate resources in those areas where they most benefit and support Europe's citizens and the European Union's future. As an Austrian politician this is the challenge I am personally most obliged to.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/homeCom.do?language=DE&body=BUDG
Zum Bericht: Antragstellung für den EGF (Europäischer Globalisierungsfond) - Agile S.r.l. (Italien)
Brüssel, 26. März 2013
Zu diesem EGF-Antrag aus Italien ist zu sagen, dass dies der dritte Antrag ist, der im Rahmen des Haushaltsplanes von diesem Jahr geprüft wird. Insgesamt sollen mehr als 3 Mrd. Euro für Italien bereitgestellt werden. Dieser Antrag betrifft die Entlassung von 1257 Personen aus dem Unternehmen Agile S.r.l. - Agile ist ein Anbieter von IT-Diensten - und die Unterstützung für 856 Arbeitskräfte, die für EGF-Kofinanzierung vorgesehen sind - während des Bezugszeitraumes vom 22.9.2011 bis 22.12.2011.
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Today's Vote on the Budget 2013
Strasbourg, 12 December 2012
I am afraid that we might face a similar situation with the Budget next year again, just as we did with this year's budget, since we start 2013 already with a 'deficit' of € 8 billion - which actually contradicts art. 323 of the Lisbon treaty in the broader sense.
Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/de/plenary/video?intervention=1353506763174
Restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity
Just prior to the summer recess, I was given the task to prepare an opinion regarding the Commission's proposal to amend the Energy Taxation Directive of 2003 by the COBU-Committee.
All EU Member States levy energy taxes while harmonising to a certain degree at EU level. One of the main goals of the directive currently in force was to prevent distorting competition in the internal market's energy sector. For energy sources minimum rates are free to set higher tax rates.
Since the adoption of the Energy Taxation Directive, however, the political-framework conditions have essentially changed. In the fields of climate change and energy, highly ambitious targets have been agreed upon for the time period until 2020. The Commission is therefore revising the Directive in the framework of the implementation of the European Union's strategy "Europe 2020"and furthermore the Commission is complying with a request issued by the European Council in March 2008.
At the COBU-Meeting of 13 July we had a first exchange of views. If you like to see the entire debate, please follow the link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/vod/player?eventCode=20110713-0900-COMMITTEE-BUDG&language=EN&byLeftMenu=researchcommittee&category=COMMITTEE&format=wmv#anchor1
